University Central Library
Ponta Delgada, Azores
1st Prize in International competition
The building occupies a site adjacent to the Palacete Vicente Ferreira, a 17th-century building of recognised architectural and heritage value. The project brings the two buildings together to house and display the anthropological and ethnographic collection of the Casa da Cultura da Ribeira Grande, while also accommodating the museum’s support spaces, a temporary exhibition gallery, an auditorium, and a café.
The new building extends the exhibition route initiated in the Palacete through a sequence of galleries that progressively rise from the ground. The different spaces respond to the exhibited pieces while establishing visual relationships with the Palacete and the city. The route culminates on the roof, conceived as a privileged vantage point over the landscape of the north coast of São Miguel Island.
Built in concrete, the new volume assumes a contemporary expression, while the Palacete is restored, preserving its original typological structure and construction system. The project also includes the design of the museum gardens, reinforcing the continuity between architecture, heritage, and landscape.
